Human Flower Project
Outgrowing Ledger
We’re overjoyed to post a report by our favorite writer and person, Bill Bishop. Ordinarily, Bill writes about politics, economy and society from a non-floral perspective. His book on political segregation in the U.S., forthcoming from Houghton-Mifflin, should precede the 2007 dahlia crop. THOONXX, Bill!
One of Windle Young’s thirty varieties of dahlias
ready for Decoration Day
Photos: B. Bishop
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It’s not like there isn’t plenty of room for a flower garden in Ledger, North Carolina (Population: too few to bother counting). Windle Young put his dahlia bed on the side of Highway 226 so that it would be in easy reach of those headed to the family graveyards that dot Mitchell County. On the cemeteries’ Decoration Day, folks here know to ask Windle if it’s okay to pick some flowers for the graves. Young invariably says yes and so having his collection of 30-some-odd varieties of dahlias on the side of the road is handy. Besides, Windle Young knows his highly visible dahlia flock is a “conversation piece.” The tall splash of color that springs upon drivers cutting through Western North Carolina is, indeed, something to talk about.
Windle Young started his dahlia collection about fifteen years ago. Young was a justice of the peace in Mitchell County for a quarter century. He issued warrants, made arrests and conducted more than 300 weddings. Since nearby Tennessee had a three-day waiting period on marriage licenses and North Carolina had none, quite a few of the weddings involved Tennesseans who, as Johnny Cash described them, were “hotter than a pepper sprout.”
Windle Young and granddaughter Nicole
August 8, 2006
Young is retired now but at 68 still works at his son’s towing service in nearby Bakersville. He’s not the kind to sit around while at home, so he began his dahlia garden just across from an Exxon station that, as evidenced by the constant squealing of tires, appears to be a favorite of the teen pick-up truck crowd. He pulls his dahlias after the first frost and stores them in a “cool, dry place” until he plants them again at the end of April. One dahlia hill can be split into four for replanting. When he wants to try new varieties, he orders bulbs from Swan Island Dahlias in Canby, Oregon.
Young got into the business of supplying flowers for Mitchell County graveyards because of a peculiar local custom. In most of the U.S., Decoration Day is Memorial Day; in many counties (particularly in the South) people take this occasion to decorate family graves or graveyards. In Mitchell County, however, every graveyard or church schedules its own Decoration Day. (The Young family graveyard celebrates the first Sunday in September.) “It’s just a tradition that has been handed down through the years,” Young surmises.
Decoration Day demands decorations and so people naturally got interested in Young’s dahlias when they made their glorious appearance on the side of Hwy. 226. Young gives his flowers away (and in polite Mitchell County, people are sure to call ahead of time to ask permission to clip). Dahlias last a long time so they are perfect for the drawn-out Decoration Day season here.
Windle Young will take his dahlias to his Decoration Day in a few weeks. In the meantime, he gets more earthly pleasures from his labor. People stop by every few days to ask about the garden. He enjoys talking about his plants and even gave us a few tomatoes he had grown strategically on the back row of the dahlia patch. (Pick-your-own service could get out of hand, after all.) And he gets to see his (and God’s) handiwork every day, not just when it comes time to decorate the resting place of the dead. After all, Young explains, “I’d rather enjoy my flowers now, while I’m living.”